I think Dean’s words are being taken out of context in Point #1. He’s absolutely right that there’s no practical way to prove someone’s a Muslim if they were to lie on a job application and say they weren’t Muslim when they really are. None of that has anything to do with taqqiya. It’s just that someone’s “Muslimness” is not the kind of thing that comes up in a background check they way a criminal history would, or a check to see if someone really graduated from the university they say they did on a job app. It would require an extremely convoluted reading of Dean’s words to get anything remotely suggestive of taqqiya from what he wrote, but that is not his fault, and not his problem. The nutters are going to believe whatever they want, regardless of anything Dean or anyone else says.

Point #3 doesn’t make any sense to me either. Did the author actually read the Ronald Reagan quote in question? Here it is again, with certain emphasis placed on words Iesa seemed to have missed.
“We must never remain silent in the face of bigotry. We must condemn those who seek to divide us. In all quarters and at all times, we must teach tolerance and denounce racism, anti-Semitism and all ethnic or religious bigotry wherever they exist as unacceptable evils. We have no place for haters in America — none, whatsoever.”
Bigotry is not merely about racism. It’s any kind of prejudice against another group of people, who are distinct as a group, either through gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, skin color, ethnic origin, etc. The quote specifically addresses religious bigotry, in addition to racism, and all other forms of bigotry. Dean
does not allege Herman Cain’s bigotry has anything to do with race, or assert that Islam = a race, or any other such nonsense, neither through the quote he chose, nor in any of his other words. Dean doesn’t make any racial analogies at all. I think the quote is fitting. It covers all kinds of bigotry that exist in the United States, and condemns them equally. It does not lump religious bigotry in with racism at all. They are two separate issues, and Dean never makes any attempt to suggest that they are the same.

Salam alaikum brother Iesa,

I am sorry but I am going to have to disagree with your objections to the use of language here, especially the part about Islamophobia.

Firstly, it really isn’t the job of us Muslims to make non-Muslims “feel better” about Islam. The Qur’an clearly states that non-Muslims will never be satisfied with anything we say or do until we become converted to their way of life. With this truism in mind it becomes incumbent upon us to realize that our only job with respect to non-Muslims is to be the best Muslims we can be, thereby setting a living example, and accurately conveying the message of Islam.

On Point #1 I think we can agree, however, maybe if you could clarify some our your points than my objections may themselves become moot.

Point #2 –” In 2007, Romney said that the American Muslim population was not significant enough to warrant a cabinet level appointment. So while Romney’s position has moved in a more just direction, Muslims should continue to focus on producing some of the best educated and most successful members of society. That is what we have done and what we must continue to do to determine our long-term success. The path Romney described in 2007 is one of a special interest group.”
”

I think that as the so-called leader of the free world, in a nation described as such it is shameful that a Muslim is not in a Cabinet level position. And in a nation that is a democracy, Romney’s argument is what we call “weak sauce” and amounts to thinly disguised tyranny of the majority. So while I disagree with Cain on almost everything he says, the only thing that really matters with respect to a Muslim being appointed to a cabinet level position is merit and qualifications. And the idea that Muslim interests in America amount to “special interests” simply because we represent a small percentage of the overall U.S. population amounts to our concerns being relegated to “special pleading” rather than being about “equal rights”.

Point #3 – “Islam & Muslim are not terms that equal to a race. Muslim diversity must be promoted:….We are not a race and should be very careful of using racial analogies to frame our modern issues. Want proof? Look to the same Gingrich statements you paraphrase in your piece. Gingrich makes ridiculous analogies between Islam, Communism and Nazism. Silly arguments like this can only be made if Muslims are allowing ourselves to be seen as a monolith. Racializing Islam sets the stage for the artificial analogy between Muslims and Nazis and Communists because the rich diversity of our Ummah is ignored and we are then seen as a tribe rather than a religion. The argument has become that by virtue of simply being Muslim (if seen as a monolith) we have joined a totalitarian doctrine. Our diversity of thought, diversity of religious interpretation along with the greater Muslim community’s richness of spanning vast ethnic divides can all be seen with suspicion rather than the admiration it rightfully merits.
”

As a social scientist and a Muslim I feel obligated to iterate that it is not Muslims who racialize ourselves, rather we are being racialized. Where I come from(the Caribbean) we distinguish between being “racial” and being “racist. Racia describes being bigoted on account of perceived racial differences(since social scientist recognize the concept of race a a social construct, with no biological basis or reality). Racism is something that can only be enacted by those in power. This is the meaning of “blacks cannot be racists, but plenty are racial”. The social construct idea is essential to understanding that bigotry against Muslims, rightly called Islamophobia, involves the racialization of Muslims. Bigots essentially imagine Muslims as an “other”, and this “otherization” involves monolithically perceiving this “other” as a separate racial group. Let’s be honest, most anti-Muslim bigots are white racists/bigots who cannot perceive of Muslims as anything beyond brown and black people living “over there”. The Chinese, white American, and European Muslim perplex the Islamophobic mind precisely because of this “racialization”.

It’s not about racializing Islam, but combating the racialization of Muslims, which sets up the inevitability of demonization and dehuminazation of Muslims through the positing and perpetuation of otherness. Allah, swt, has already said that humanity is one, such that all racism and racialization becomes bogus.

Point #4 –” Good work on not using tired, problematic terminology: I applaud you for not using the term Islamophobia, which re-enforces the problems I list in point 3. The use of the term ultimately leads to the logical conclusion of Huntington’s the clash of civilizations theory. When we say that fear of Muslims is Islamophobia, non-Muslims can be made to believe that Islam itself is the problem. This is because we did not address the fear. It does not matter if the fear is misplaced, it only matters that it exists.”

While I agree that we must offer up the cure for the fear, as well as address the fear itself, I strongly disagree with your characterization of Islamophobia. Fear of Muslims is in fact Islamophobia, simply because a phobia is a sometimes intense, irrational fear and hatred that invariably leads to bigotry. We as Muslims recognize that there is nothing wrong with Islam, so we should not be afraid to recognize and articulate that fear of Muslims/Islam is in fact not rational. Non-Muslims mostly already believe that there is something wrong with Islam, as intimated earlier, they will not be satisfied until we renounce and abandon Islam or reform it into irrelevance the same way other religions such as Christianity have been. Is it really our responsibility that this fear of Islam exists, or is our only job,really, to faithfully and accurately convey the message?

“In short, embrace the diversity in the Muslim communities, message to audiences (emphasis on multiple groups) and do not define ourselves by our opposition to something, instead we should stand on our principles before and during times when we must oppose hate or injustice.
”

“The way to craft messages to the broadest possible audience is not by engaging in complex verbal acrobatics. The daily barrage of messages that assault our senses alone dictates that we should employ, short, simple and plainly worded messages.”

The Western mind is accustomed to “sound-bite knowledge” and believes that simplicity of the message is an indication of its Truth. Yet the ultimate Truth, al-Haqq will never be fully comprehended in His Essence by the fallible, finite human mind. In addition it is well known that the Truth is always simple to those who possess it and “complex, verbal acrobatics” to those who are lost in the darkness of ignorance. Again I must stress that we only convey the message and not be reactionary, tailoring our messages to what we think might be palatable and acceptable to non-Muslims. They are our brothers and sisters in humanity so deserve the truth,not a sugar-coated version designed to make them feel better.

“ Rather than complex verbal acrobatics, Muslims need to speak to the core issues and concerns of the our audiences in honest, plain, and definitive language.”

This is true, except that my point is that no matter what a Muslim does or says his “honest, plain, and definitive language” will be seen as nothing more than “complex verbal acrobatics” to those whose hearts are hardened to the Truth.

“….but if we believe that a substantial portion of the population are bigots just waiting around to attack us, then we have internalized a state of combative existence, not to mention a serious sense of delusional, self-centeredness where the American Muslim community is stuck in the role of being a victim.”

The victim mentality is alive an well in the Muslim community, but I believe you are wrong in your understanding. The Prophet(as) has told us that as Muslims we are strangers in this dunya, and the idea that the world is full of bigots waiting to attack us is not that far-fetched. However you are correct that we should never be reactionary/combative or delusional about the extent of enmity towards Muslims.

Barak Allahu Feek
Wasalam